Week 4 Fantasy Football Market Share Report: Ronald Jones Is Happening

Relying too heavily on box scores can certainly lead a fantasy owner astray. Usage numbers like market shares can be a better predictor of success than box score results.

With that in mind, let's look at some usage trends from Week 4

Rushing Market Share

Ronald Jones

We’ve waited for this -- right?

Ronald Jones may have finally cemented his status as the lead dog in the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ backfield this past Sunday. Jones carried the ball 19 times for 70 and one touchdown. His closest competition was Peyton Barber, who had nine carries for 19 yards and a touchdown. Jones added one catch for 12 yards. It marked the first time all year Jones out-snapped Barber.

Over the last two weeks, Jones has 33 carries for 150 yards and two scores while Barber has run it 22 times for 67 yards and a score.

After handling 63% market share for the Buccaneers, Jones appears poised to take over this backfield as the offense has finally gotten on track. If you still have a chance to grab Jones in your league, the time is now.

Josh Jacobs

Coming into Week 4, the market share for Josh Jacobs was a little unclear with Jalen Richard and DeAndre Washington in the mix. But Jacobs reassured fantasy owners by handling 53% of the running back carries on Sunday, although the game script played out perfectly for him.

Jacobs handled 17 carries for 79 yards and added two receptions for 29 yards. Jacobs’ competition, Richard, had five touches for 17 yards, and Washington totaled eight touches for 26 yards total.

Believe it or not, the hype surrounding Jacobs hasn't reached a crescendo. He came out of the summer as a late third-, early fourth-round pick, but he sure isn't being talked about like that right now. His presence on an underwhelming Oakland Raiders offense might be making his asking price manageable if you need a solid RB2.

Receiving Market Share

Jarvis Landry

The panic has set in for Odell Beckham owners. In a game where the Cleveland Browns scored 40 points, Beckham had just two catches for 20 yards.

But Jarvis Landry was a monster.

Landry, who netted eight receptions for 167 yards on 10 targets, blew up the Baltimore Ravens' defense, racking up 60 yards after the catch and seeing a 32% target share, per airyards.com.

With Beckham -- who still saw seven targets -- drawing tons of attention from defenses, Landry is taking advantage.

But OBJ will almost certainly lead this team in targets, and the Week 4 game may have opened up a nice window to sell high on Landry.

Stefon Diggs

The time to buy low (if that was possible) on Stefon Diggs might be over, but it's still worth trying.

Diggs had his best game of the season in Week 4 with seven receptions for 108 yards on seven targets. It wasn't a monster game, but against the Chicago Bears' defense, the outings stands out on many levels as he led the team in air yards share at 36%.

Adam Thielen still received six targets but was held in check for two receptions for six yards.

Diggs is simply too talented to be held down for long, and he's seeing a solid 19% target share and superb 40% air yards share for the season -- numbers that aren't way off from last year's marks of a 26% target share and 30% air yards share.

Red Zone Market Share

Jordan Howard

As many focused on the emergence of rookie running back Miles Sanders' trend toward more playing time and touches, we may have lost sight of Jordan Howard.

On Thursday night, Howard asserted his red zone dominance with two short touchdown runs as Sanders watched from the sideline.

Howard currently sits tied for sixth in red zone touches with 11, which have thus far led to three touchdowns from inside the 20 in four games. He's got four scores in all.

For the season, Howard owns a 42.3% rushing red zone market share for the Philadelphia Eagles, and he's giving the Eagles' coaches no reason to change things.

Howard is not an exciting player to roster, but with Sanders’ fumbling issues and Howard's red zone prowess, the former Bear makes for a very nice RB2/flex play, especially when the Eagles are favorites, like this are at home versus the New York Jets in Week 5.

Courtland Sutton

Courtland Sutton hit up the Jacksonville Jaguars for 62 yards and two touchdowns on nine targets in Week 4. His 317 air yards for the season leaves him 14th among all NFL receivers, according to airyards.com, and his overall usage numbers of a 34% air yards share and 21% target share are pretty darn nice.

Sutton has also accounted for six red zone targets on the season, with two touchdowns from inside the 20. Sutton is handling a 30% target share inside the 10-yard-line.

Sutton’s emergence leaves a small window for buying him as a back-end WR2 or high-end WR3 since some may not be fully on board quite yet. Emmanuel Sanders and Sutton are co-number ones in the offense, and with Sanders having the name value, Sutton may be flying under the radar a bit right now.